Examining himself in the mirror, he didn’t care for the light green color of his shirt. Ari chuckled behind him. He spun around to face her. “What?” he asked.
She came forward and reached for him. “You’re supposed to clasp it shut.” She turned the fabric at his neck, exposing a hook. Then she proceeded to clasp it together for him, her fingers brushing his collarbone.
He glanced up at the ceiling. His problem was that it had been far too long since he’d had some time alone with Hana. “Maybe I wanted to keep it open like that,” he teased her. “So you could look at my chest.” He smirked.
She opened her mouth to say something when someone knocked on the door.
“Come in,” Savenek called out.
A man entered. He wore the uniform of a soldier with one distinct difference—his had a large medal hanging on his right shoulder indicating he was a commander of some sort.
Savenek needed to tread carefully. “Can I help you?” he asked.
“My name is Gorditi. I have a few questions to ask.”
No title, only a name. “Come in and have a seat.”
Gorditi closed the door and strode into the room. He had a fine-looking longsword strapped to his waist. He removed it before sitting on the sofa. Savenek and Ari took a seat across from him.
“We also have a few questions,” Ari stated. “When will we be introduced to the royal family? Are there any customs we should be aware of? And when will we be able to begin our negotiations? Even though—”
“Wait,” Gorditi held up his right hand. He was in his late forties with dark hair and a neatly trimmed beard. “I am the one asking questions, not you.”
Ari’s eyes widened as she feigned affront. The more Savenek was around her, the better he understood what a good actress she could be when under pressure. It was rather impressive.
“My sister is used to giving orders, not taking them,” Savenek said.
“Which leads me to my first question.” Gorditi leaned back on the sofa, crossing his legs. “Who are you?”
Savenek was about to answer when Ari beat him to it. “I am Aryam, and this is my brother, Ven. Empress Rema of Emperion wrote to King Theon expressing her desire to purchase some weapons. At which point the king invited a representative here to see if we could come to mutually beneficial terms. I am that representative, and I am here to broker the deal.” She kept her voice even, polite, but firm, as a highly bred lady would when speaking to a lowly foot soldier.
Oh she was good. Really good. Savenek relaxed, realizing he was here with someone capable of handling herself. What position Ari held at the Emperion court, Savenek didn’t know. But he’d be willing to bet Ari was one of the empress’s secret weapons.
“And your soldiers?” Gorditi asked.
“King Theon stated that no more than four Emperions would be welcome in Apethaga. Since my brother and I are highly trusted and capable, the empress only sent the two of us.”
She’d kept the fact that she was an interpreter hidden from this man. Savenek wanted to high-five her for her foresight. She was sharp. He nudged her with his knee. “You can just call me your bodyguard since that’s what I am.” They needed to appear to be brother and sister. This soldier was here inquiring after their identities for a reason. They had to have a flawless performance if they were to have any luck securing those weapons for Emperion.
She rolled her eyes, grinning good-naturedly. “Father said you were to assist and watch over me. I do not need or want a bodyguard.”
Gorditi stood. “The two of you will be introduced to the royal family tomorrow evening.” He headed for the door.
“Please see that someone brings us some food,” Ari called after him.
Gorditi glanced over his shoulder. “I am not a servant.”
She stood and started to follow him. “Then can you show me to the dining hall? I’m starving.”
He stopped. “You are to stay in your rooms. I will see that food is brought to you.” He left, locking the door behind him.
“Are you sure you weren’t trained by the Brotherhood?” Savenek asked her.
The corners of her lips pulled into a tight smile. “Do you know who founded the Brotherhood?” she whispered, sitting on the sofa next to him.
The Brotherhood formed when Empress Rema had taken the throne nearly twenty years ago. While his father was a member and the founder of the school, Savenek wasn’t sure who had started the Brotherhood.
Ari looked expectantly at him. “You honestly don’t know?”
“I don’t even know who all the members are,” he admitted. Some were always on missions and rarely returned to the compound.
“Huh.” She leaned back on the sofa. “I’m surprised.”
“And you know who the founder is?”
“Yes.”
He waited expectantly for her to enlighten him, but she didn’t respond. “What do you want to do while we wait for our food?” Being cooped up in this room was making him restless. Glancing outside, the sun had started to set in the horizon.
“We should probably go over our plan.”
“We don’t have a plan.”
“Exactly,” she said. “We need to come up with one before we get ourselves killed.”
Savenek started pacing about the room, his hands laced together at the back of his head, ideas starting to form. He eyed Ari. She reminded him of Nathenek with her insistence on forming a plan and mapping out every detail.
A servant entered carrying a tray piled high with food. She quietly set the tray on the low table between the sofas. After she left, Savenek examined the food for any trace of poison. Not finding any, he let Ari take a bite. He uncorked the wine and poured each of them a glass.
Ari took off her shoes and curled onto the sofa looking mighty comfortable as she ate an apple. Savenek picked up a plate with bread and cheese and sat back down, watching this woman before him. “Your father is pretty high up in the military, and you personally know the empress.”
She continued eating her apple, not responding to anything he’d said. He decided to ask a direct question, which would demand a response.
“What about the princess?” he said. “Do you know her?”
“Yes.” She took a sip of wine. “We’re roughly the same age.”
“What’s she like?”
Ari stopped eating and tilted her head to the side. “Why do you ask?”
“Just curious.”
“Haven’t you ever gone to see the royal family when they address the people in Emperor’s City?”
He shook his head.
“You are from Emperor’s City, are you not?” She set her apple core on the tray.
“I am.”
Her brows pulled together with doubt.
“My father doesn’t let me attend,” he explained. Regardless of how much he’d begged to go. “He said crowded events were too dangerous.”
Ari snorted. “Dangerous for the royal family perhaps, but not commoners.”
“He was afraid I’d be trampled.” As he said it out loud, his father’s excuse sounded lame. Why hadn’t he ever questioned it more? Because Nathenek would have hit him over the head if he did.
“You are a little small and scrawny.” She smiled, her eyes alight with mischief.
Even though he knew she was teasing, Savenek bristled. He was neither small nor scrawny. He was just about six feet with broad shoulders. And while he didn’t like bragging, he was muscular. All over. He’d never had trouble enticing women to do what he wanted when he turned on the charm. Except for Ari. She seemed immune to his antics.
“What? No witty comeback?” she teased. “I’m so disappointed.”
“You’re dangerous,” he said bluntly.
That made her laugh even more.
He stood abruptly and strode over to the balcony doors. Even though the sun had just set, casting a beautiful red hue to the sky, the air was too warm and sticky for his liking. The gentle breeze did nothing to help cool him.
He pulled the doors closed and shut the curtains, not wanting anyone to be able to see them.
“Is something the matter?” Ari asked. She patted the spot next to her on the sofa.
Savenek eyed the spot, not sure he wanted to sit so close to her at the moment.
“I don’t understand you,” she said, running a hand through her long hair. “Why do you dislike me so much?”
“I don’t dislike you.”
“You act like you do.”
He rubbed his face, trying to figure out what to say.
“We’re in a foreign kingdom,” Ari whispered. “At any moment, we could be killed. I suggest that you be honest with me. We need to work together to survive.”
He took a deep breath and said, “My problem is that I do like you. More than I should.” He put his hands on his hips and started pacing. As soon as it was dark enough, he’d sneak out of here and do some investigating. All this sitting around was driving him mad.
“If you like me, then why do you act like you can’t stand me? Explain yourself.”
He smiled wryly. That was why right there. That blunt directness.
Her eyes narrowed, her face revealing comprehension. “You have a girlfriend back home.”
“Yes.”
“Do you like me as a friend? Or as a woman?”
“I enjoy your company. You have nothing to worry about.”
“Do you find me attractive?”
He pinched the bridge of his nose. He was digging himself deeper and deeper. “I like you as a friend. I hadn’t expected to be here with someone my age and to make a friend. In case you didn’t know, someone in my line of work doesn’t have many friends.” Why did women have to talk so bloody much? Why did they have to question and dissect everything? He was getting a headache.
She shrugged. “All right. That’s probably a good thing. I like you as a friend, too—nothing more,” she assured him. “If you did find me attractive and attempted to make a move, my brother would chop off your hand. It’s definitely best you keep your hands to yourself.” She stood and glided out of his room, going to her bedchamber.
“Leave the door open,” he called after her.
“Why?” she cooed. “So you can watch your friend change?”
He would never survive this trip. She would ruin him. “No,” he insisted. The idea hadn’t crossed his mind until she put it there. “I’d feel safer with the door open while we sleep in case anyone tries to come in and hurt you.”
“You don’t think I can take care of myself?”
He grabbed the bottle of wine and took a chug, wishing it was something stronger. “Do whatever the hell you want,” he mumbled. Because he couldn’t win with her. She twisted everything he said and one-upped him. Blasted. She was fantastic. He took another chug of wine.
“If I were you,” Ari said, coming back into his bedchamber, “I’d be careful. You just woke up not that long ago. You probably have the elixir still running through your blood.”
She was right. Of course she was. He set the bottle down. “You’re in your sleep clothes,” he commented.
“They cover just as much as the dress did. If not more.” She grabbed a blanket off the chair in the corner, wrapping it around her shoulders.
“Why are you here?” he asked. “Miss me during the two minutes you were in your room?”
“I’m not tired,” she admitted, sitting back down on his sofa. “And if we’re going to pull this sibling thing off, we need to get to know one another better.”
“You can use whatever excuse you want,” Savenek said, smiling.
She rolled her eyes. “You remind me so much of someone I know. Always having to get the last word in.”
“I do not.”
She looked at him pointedly, and he snapped his mouth closed. “Tell me about your childhood,” she said.
There wasn’t much to tell. “My mother died in childbirth. I was raised by my father who is the head instructor at the military academy for the Brotherhood. I started training there when I was seven. I’m due to take my vows when I return from this mission.” He sat on the other end of the sofa.
“And your girlfriend—do you plan to marry her?”
He hadn’t been on any official dates with Hana and they didn’t have an understanding. He’d go to the market to see her whenever he could. Two or three times they’d met at night and shared a kiss or two. But that was about it. He’d wanted to ask her to marry him before he left, even though Nathenek had expressed his concern more than once over the match.
Avoiding her question he asked, “What about you?”
She pulled her thick hair over her shoulder and started braiding it. “I am neither engaged nor married.”
“Do you want to be?”
“Eventually. Right now, I enjoy my job. I go on the occasional mission. If I were to marry, I couldn’t do that.”
That was one of the concerns Nathenek had expressed about Hana. She knew nothing about what Savenek did, nor could she. How could he marry someone with whom he couldn’t be honest? Someone who couldn't truly know him? The only way he could tell her what he did was if the Brotherhood approved of it—and Nathenek had assured him her connections were such that the Brotherhood would never give their consent.
“And finding someone to spend my life with would mean my parents would have to approve of a young man.” She chuckled. “My father will never see any man as being good enough for me. And my brother is so perfect in my father’s eyes that no one stands a chance next to him.”
“Is your brother older or younger?”
“Older. What about you? Any other family besides your father?”
Hana had never asked him any questions about his life. When they’d been alone, they bantered with one another and then kissed. He didn’t know much about her or her family. “My dad has several siblings. I’m closest with my aunt.” He suddenly didn’t want to talk about himself. Sharing such personal information was only tying him to Ari even more. And what if something went wrong during their time in Apethaga? Would he be able to do his job if he was emotionally invested in this woman beside him? His father had always discouraged friendships. This was probably why. He needed to stay focused. Eye on the mission. No distractions.
“Will you do me a favor?” Ari asked.
He nodded without thinking it through.
“Please stay in your room tonight.”
How had she known he planned to sneak out? “Why?”
“You were asleep from the elixir longer than I was.” She scooted closer to him and lowered her voice. “Something isn’t right here. I can feel it. I don’t want you off exploring when the toxins are still in your system. Wait a day or two. Promise me?”
“I promise.”
She stood and kissed his cheek. “Night, brother,” she whispered in his ear, making him shiver.
He was so screwed.
Savenek felt someone move next to him on the bed. He opened his eyes, squinting in the bright morning sun, and found Ari sitting there. He blinked. “Morning.”
“We’re still locked in here,” she said. “Time to get up. Our breakfast just arrived. And this,” she held up a piece of paper, “was with it.”
He sat upright, rubbing his eyes.
Ari jumped off the bed. “Are you naked?” she screeched.
“No.” What a ridiculous question. He never slept naked. What if someone tried to kill him while he was sleeping? The last thing he wanted to do was fight without any clothes on. He’d feel vulnerable and something could get chopped off or yanked. He shivered. “I have pants on.”
“Put a shirt on,” she insisted. Turning away from him, she went over to the balcony doors and threw the curtains open.
“Are you sure?” he asked, sliding out of bed. “I thought that if I went around like this, it might help improve the scenery.”
She huffed and shook her head.
Grabbing his shirt off the ground, he pulled it on and ran his hands through his hair, w
hich had been sticking up in every direction. “Where’s this food of which you speak?”
“My room.”
Savenek followed her into her bedchamber which was a mirror image of his room. They sat next to one another on the sofa. The tray on the low table held bread, cheese, and a variety of fruit. No meat. He filled a plate and sat back to eat.
Ari handed him a piece of paper and then proceeded to fill a plate with food for herself. Savenek read through it. A ball was being held that evening. The delegates from Emperion were to attend. This was where introductions would be made. He handed the invitation back to her.
“Please don’t take this the wrong way,” she said, “but do you know how to behave at a formal event such as this?”
He nearly choked on his food. Did she honestly think he hadn’t been trained to handle a ball? That the Brotherhood would send him to another kingdom without knowing some basic protocol?
“Don’t look at me like that,” she said. “It was an honest question.”
“I’ve been trained to do more than kill.” He shoved a piece of food in his mouth.
“In Emperion, at a function such as this, guests are announced before the royal family is,” Ari explained. “Since you’re my brother, you will be expected to escort me. When we speak to the royal family, you will be the one to make the introductions. When the music begins, you must be my first dance partner. Then, we may converse with other people. However, you will need to check on me every so often.” She didn’t look at him as she said all of this.
“The customs could be different here,” he said around a mouthful of food.
“It doesn’t matter. We must follow Emperion customs since we are here representing our kingdom.”
“Have you been to many functions like this one?”
“Dozens. They hold no interest for me any longer.”
While Savenek had been schooled in the proper behavior for an event like this one, and had even snuck into a few balls with Nathenek, this would be the first time he had a specific role to play at a formal function.
“If a song from our kingdom is played, we must dance together. As siblings, we would have practiced with one another growing up, so we must look like we know what we’re doing.”
Oath of Deception Page 9
